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Charles Willing
Charles Willing (May 18, 1710 – November 30, 1754) was a Philadelphia merchant, trader and politician; twice he served as Mayor of Philadelphia, from 1748 until 1749 and again in 1754. Early life Charles Willing was born in Bristol, England, on May 18, 1710, the son of Thomas Willing and Anne Harrison. He traveled to the American British colonies by ship and settled in Philadelphia in 1728 at the age of eighteen. His cousin Thomas Willing was selling land and laying out plans for a new community called Willingtown which later became Wilmington, Delaware. While living in Willingtown, Charles Willing became a very successful businessman and held political offices such as councilman and magistrate. Philadelphia Later in life Willing moved to Philadelphia and in 1743 was elected to the Common Council. Soon afterwards in the year 1745 Willing was appointed as Justice. Then in 1747 Willing was appointed as one of the Justices of the City Court. The following year in 1748 he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wollaston (painter)
John Wollaston (active between 1742 and 1775) was an English painter of portraits who was active in the British colonies in North America for much of his career. He was one of a handful of painters to introduce the English Rococo style to the American colonies. Biography Little is known of Wollaston's early life. He is believed to have been the son of a painter, born in London. Some sources give his father's name as John Wollaston; others, citing Horace Walpole's ''Anecdotes of Painting in England'' of 1765, suggest that his father's name was John Woolston, and that he later changed his name to Wollaston. Similarly, little is known about his artistic training; Charles Willson Peale, in a letter dated 1812 and written to his son Rembrandt, mentions that Wollaston trained in London with a drapery painter, but nothing else has been recorded. It seems evident, from his painting style, that by the time of his American sojourn he had either acquired further training or had develo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1754 Deaths
Events January–March * January 28 – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word ''serendipity''. * February 22 – Expecting an attack by Portuguese-speaking militias in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the indigenous Guarani people residing in the Misiones Orientales stage an attack on a small Brazilian Portuguese settlement on the Rio Pardo in what is now the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The attack by 300 Guarani soldiers from the missions at San Luis, San Lorenzo and San Juan Bautista is repelled with a loss of 30 Guarani and is the opening of the Guarani War * February 25 – Guatemalan Sergeant Major Melchor de Mencos y Varón departs the city of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala with an infantry battalion to fight British pirates that are reportedly disembarking on the coasts of Petén (modern-day Belize), and sacking the nearby towns. * March 16 – Ten days after the death of British Prime Minister He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1710 Births
Year 171 ( CLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Herennianus (or, less frequently, year 924 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 171 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Marcus Aurelius forms a new military command, the ''praetentura Italiae et Alpium''. Aquileia is relieved, and the Marcomanni are evicted from Roman territory. * Marcus Aurelius signs a peace treaty with the Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges. The Germanic tribes of the Hasdingi (Vandals) and the Lacringi become Roman allies. * Armenia and Mesopotamia become protectorates of the Roman Empire. * The Costoboci cross the Danube (Dacia) and ravage Thrace in the Balkan Peninsula. They reach Eleusis, near Athens, and de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Lawrence (mayor)
Thomas Lawrence (1689–1754) was a merchant who was elected to six one-year terms as mayor of Philadelphia between 1727 and his death in 1754. He was also a founder and trustee of The Academy and College of Philadelphia. Formative years Born in New York City, Lawrence moved to Philadelphia in 1720, where, for the rest of his life, he was engaged in the mercantile business. In 1730, after being associated with James Logan, Lawrence formed a partnership with Edward Shippen; Shippen & Lawrence became one of Philadelphia's leading firms. Political career Apart from his life in private business, Lawrence held several positions of trust in the city, including serving as mayor for six one-year terms, as city councilman and alderman, and as judge of the county court. During 1730 he worked with Dr. John Kearsley and Andrew Hamilton on a committee for the preparation and planning to build the Philadelphia state house, the later Independence Hall. At the provincial level, Lawrence began ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Attwood (mayor)
William Hollingsworth Attwood (July 14, 1919 – April 15, 1989) was an American journalist, author, editor and diplomat. Life Early life Born in Paris, France, he received his education at Choate Rosemary Hall and Princeton University, editing ''The Daily Princetonian'' and later serving as a Princeton trustee. He served as a paratrooper in World War II. After the war, Attwood wrote for the '' New York Herald Tribune'' and soon was transferred to the Paris bureau of the international edition. His first book, ''The Man Who Could Grow Hair, or Inside Andorra'', was a memoir-based series of tales of his adventures in post-war Europe. Attwood married Simone Cadgene in Paris in 1950 and the couple eventually had three children, Peter, Janet, and Susan. He published a memoir of their impressions of the changes in America upon returning, titled ''Still the Most Exciting Country''. Speechwriting Adlai Stevenson enlisted Attwood to serve as a speechwriter and advisor in both of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Powel
Samuel Powel (October 28, 1738 – September 29, 1793) was a colonial and post-revolutionary mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since Philadelphia's mayoral office had been abolished early in the revolutionary period, Powel was the last colonial mayor of the city and the first to serve after the United States gained independence from Great Britain. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1759 from the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). He served as mayor from 1775 to 1776 and 1789 to 1790, the office having been abolished under the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1790 to his death in 1793. Powel was an early member of the American Philosophical Society and a trustee of the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). Personal life Powel was the son of Samuel Powel and Mary Morris. On August 7, 1769, he married Elizabeth Willing, the daughter of Philadelphia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Willing Powel
Elizabeth Willing Powel (February 21, 1743 – January 17, 1830) was an American socialite and a prominent member of the Philadelphia upper class of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The daughter, later sister and then wife of mayors of Philadelphia, she was a salonnière who hosted frequent gatherings that became a staple of political life in the city. During the First Continental Congress in 1774, Powel opened her home to the delegates and their families, hosting dinner parties and other events. After the American Revolutionary War, she again took her place among the most prominent Philadelphian socialites, establishing a salon of the Republican Court of leading intellectuals and political figures. Powel corresponded widely, including with the political elite of the time. She was a close friend and confidante to George Washington and was among those who convinced him to continue for a second term as president. She wrote extensively, but privately, on a wide range of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Byrd III
Colonel William Byrd III (September 6, 1728January 1 or January 2, 1777) was an American planter, politician and military officer who was a member of the House of Burgesses. Early life He was son of William Byrd II and Maria Taylor Byrd, and the grandson of William Byrd I. Career Byrd inherited his family's estate of approximately 179,000 acres of land in Virginia and continued their planter prestige as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He chose to fight in the French and Indian War rather than spend much time in Richmond. In 1756 he was colonel of the Second Virginia Regiment. William Byrd III had a reputation as a notorious gambler. He initiated what was said to have been the first major horse race in the New World, involving fellow Virginia planters John Tayloe II, Francis Thornton, and Samuel Ogle & Benjamin Tasker Jr. of Maryland. After he squandered the Byrd fortune on building a magnificent mansion at Westover Plantation, gambling, and bad investments, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Morris (financier)
Robert Morris Jr. (January 20, 1734May 8, 1806) was an English-born merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, the Second Continental Congress, and the United States Senate, and he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. From 1781 to 1784, he served as the Superintendent of Finance of the United States, becoming known as the "Financier of the Revolution." Along with Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin, he is widely regarded as one of the founders of the financial system of the United States. Born in Liverpool, Morris migrated to North America in his teens, quickly becoming a partner in a successful shipping firm based in Philadelphia. In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, Morris joined with other merchants in opposing British tax policies such as the 1765 Stamp Act. By 1775 he was the richest man in America. After the outbre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willing Expedition
The Willing Expedition, also called Willing's Depredation, was a 1778 military expedition launched on behalf of the American Continental Congress by Captain James Willing during the American War of Independence. Background James Willing was a former Natchez resident who had achieved the rank of Naval Captain in the Continental Navy. He visited Baton Rouge in 1777 bringing an offer from the Continental Congress for West Florida to join the rebellion against the British monarchy and a proposal to become the fourteenth state. Although many West Floridians had sympathy with the cause of the American independence, they were content with their situation which included an elected assembly, and were far more concerned about the Spanish presence in nearby New Orleans from which they required British protection. Willing reported back to Congress that West Florida was a threat to American independence and was authorized to take a force of troops down the Mississippi River and compel the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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